Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
BBC reporter who covered trans issues questions claims of bias
The Guardian
|November 14, 2025
A reporter at the heart of the BBC's coverage of gender dysphoria has questioned claims that the corporation shows "systemic bias" on trans issues, saying it ran a series of reports without any interference.
Claims that the BBC had failed to properly cover gender and trans issues formed part of a memo alleging “serious and systemic problems” of bias at the corporation.
The memo, written by a former external adviser to the BBC and leaked to the Daily Telegraph, led to the resignations of the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness.
Michael Prescott, the former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee, wrote that there was “a constant drip-feed of one-sided stories”, with a bias towards a pro-trans rights lobby. The PR executive also alleged “effective censorship” from within the BBC on the topic.
He said an exception was a series of reports on Newsnight about the treatment of children and young people questioning their gender identity.
This story is from the November 14, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The Guardian
The Guardian
Life lived in the shadow of Lennon's genius
At the age of 30, the Beatles' legendary manager, Brian Epstein, published his autobiography.
1 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
EU Nato crisis forces mutual defence treaty into spotlight
Brussels officials will draw up a plan on how to use the EU’s little-known mutual assistance pact in the event of a foreign attack, as Donald Trump’s criticism of Nato intensifies.
2 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
The chic of it
How fashion fell head over heels for the Devil Wears Prada sequel
2 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
Wave of executions show regime at war with people
Writing from his cell in the Rajai Shahr prison in the northern Iranian city of Karaj, Babak Alipour wanted to tell his friends about those who had already gone to their execution.
3 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
PM pushes back against Trump's Falklands threat
Downing Street was forced to insist yesterday that Britain would not yield sovereignty over the Falkland Islands after a leaked Pentagon email proposed the US should reassess its support for the UK's claim on the islands because of a lack of support over Iran.
4 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
Starmer should know taking on civil service is a dangerous game
The BBC's Whitehall satire Yes, Minister was said to be Margaret Thatcher's favourite show owing to its proximity to reality, as the programme's loquacious top civil servant, Sir Humphrey Appleby, might have put it.
5 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
Man jailed for life after raping and racially abusing woman in Walsall
A white man \"filled with hatred\" has been jailed for life for racially abusing a Sikh woman as he raped her.
3 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
Tax shake-up Big changes loom - it's time to act now
New rules will hit pensions and savings from April 2027. It may seem a long way off, but it's vital to plan ahead, writes Rupert Jones
8 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
Our new soul-pop queen shimmies and shimmers
When the stage’s cream curtains pull back, Olivia Dean and band are already in full flow.
2 mins
April 25, 2026
The Guardian
Bullock returns to the screen after four-year break
She had long refused to join social media, preferring to eschew the machinery of celebrity.
4 mins
April 25, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size